Why do musicians always feel disappointed about their career?

I was at a gig last night and I saw three amazing bands rocking out the stage and making people dance very hard. Note: it’s London, normally people don’t dance that hard.

The sad realization I made is that none of these bands actually makes money. Isn’t it sad? The band entertains you, makes you feel great, you pay the bar for drinks, but the musician gets nothing of monetary nature. That brought an avalanche of thoughts and I started jotting them down! I quickly came down to 6 main reasons of failure, which you’ll definitely relate with (if you’re a musician).

Click to read more ...

Why Is A Culture Shift Important For Musicians?

Written by Tommy Darker.

Most artists feel helpless today. This is how I comprehend their crawling around the digital music world. Laws and the status quo have changed radically, the audience’s behaviour and preferences as well. And we cannot change their newly ingrained views. It would be pointless. In my opinion, the digital world has ‘change’ imprinted in its DNA.

Click to read more ...

The Rise of the Musicpreneur (Part 3/3)

Written by Tommy Darker.

This is the last part of the 3-part series about the Musicpreneur. A link to the complete essay with all the parts and extra resources can be found at the end of the article.

III For the future

Somebody could say that we’re done. That the list is full. Almost.

The present is not all that counts; unless it points to something bigger in the future.

The past years I was working for NATO as an international military policeman. Last summer I decided to quit my job after 7 years of solid and educational experiences. All that because of my love for music.

During my transitional window to a full-time music devotee (active musician and marketing experimenter), I had a lot of time to dedicate and strong appetite to devour books that contained information outside the scope of the Music Industry, but indirectly connected with it.

And then it hit me.

Click to read more ...

The Rise of the Musicpreneur (Part 2/3)

Some artists wanted to hear more about the subject, so here’s part #2.

In the first part of the Rise of the Musicpreneur, I highlighted the business and online assets a modern music artist should take care of.

Today, I will touch upon the practical side of the topic. It has to do with the agenda every artist should maintain in regards to Marketing, Live Performance, Creation and Fans.

Click to read more ...

The Rise of the Musicpreneur (Part 1/3)

We’re still in the early stage of the rise of polymath and entrepreneurial musicians, but the Musicpreneur is not far from being the norm.

Nobody, however, has come up with a satisfactory description of what being an independent musicians in the digital age entails. It’s a cool name, but how does it work? In this essay, I will attempt to adumbrate those attributes, because I strongly believe we’ll see them get amplified in the future.

Click to read more ...

Premiumization 101 for Musicians

Music is valuable for triggering emotions and shaping our mood, but the market laws are different. There’s no silver bullet on how to add scarce value to a musical composition in order to make it marketable. There’s a yet unexplored territory though, and it lies in the power of perception. Brands resist commoditization by skillfully adding value to what they offer, changing people’s perception. In other words, enter Premium.

Click to read more ...